Animal Rebellion, a group advocating for the end of animal and fish farming, has protested at high-end shops. The group has come under a spotlight after bottles of fluids were poured at Fortnum & Mason on October 7. Similar nonviolent protests have been held at Harrods, Selfridges and many other places throughout the past few months.
The group has reemerged after a month with unique ways of protesting against animal farming. Speaking with TrillMag, Nathan, spokesperson of Animal Rebellion, explained that the group is a mass movement using nonviolent civil disobedience to call for a just, sustainable plant-based food system.
He added, “Animal rebellion is an anti-speciesist movement that bring together the struggles for climate, social and animal justice; the group recognizes the need for an intersectional approach to building a better world.”
More video has arrived of Animal Rebellion's direct action at Harrods, Selfridges and Fortnums.
— TalkTV (@TalkTV) October 7, 2022
What are the arguments in favour of non-violent direction action?@RebelsAnimal | @rebelsanimalLDN pic.twitter.com/FLOtXrrax6
A nonviolent direct action on October 7 at Fortnum & Mason and Selfridges took place, where protestors emptied milk bottles on the floor in both shops. Supporters carried out similar activities in Harrods in July.
According to sources, the damage caused to the carpet at Fortnum & Mason by spilling milk bottles over a red carpet is up to 100,000 pounds. In response to this, Nathan told TrillMag: “The actions recently taken at the likes of Fortnum & Mason and Selfridges may have caused up to £100,000 of damage to the carpet at the former.”
Two protestors videotaped at Fortnum & Mason, Sofia Fernandes Pontes and Steve Bone, were later arrested at a demonstration in Green Park, where hundreds of supporters gathered to march through Central London peacefully.
Supporters of Animal Rebellion have just poured dairy over the meat counters at Harrods calling on the government to support farmers in the transition to a #PlantBasedFuture pic.twitter.com/s1YNtQ8XwW
— Animal Rebellion (@RebelsAnimal) October 15, 2022
The spokesperson told TrillMag via email that both of them are ‘completely willing’ to face a jury’s verdict on this matter “as they have faith in the ordinary people who will judge them and that they will see the severity of the climate and ecological emergencies.”
Animal Rebellion’s Plant-Based Future Campaign has a two-fold government-level demand: Government supports farmers and fishing communities to move away from animal farming and fishing as part of an urgent and immediate transition to a plant-based food system.
Animal Rebellion also wants the government to commit “to rewild the freed-up land and ocean as part of a broader program of wildlife restoration and carbon drawdown”. Nathan said: “they are backed up by studies from Oxford and Harvard universities, alongside the IPCC.”
Sign up to take action with Animal Rebellion in spring 2023!https://t.co/trdIZhWgMP pic.twitter.com/YVqb7mmb3M
— Animal Rebellion (@RebelsAnimal) October 10, 2022
The organization began in the United Kingdom in 2019 as a sister movement to Extinction Rebellion and has since spread to countries including Spain as well Germany. Each international group takes a slightly different approach to the issues at hand, but all remain in communication.
While their civil-disobedient form of protesting is nonviolent, protests carried out by the group have been widely criticized for the damage they are causing.
